


Rising Bread, Raising the Dead

by MercuryMirror



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Drama & Romance, Hatake Kakashi is Not Good At This, M/M, Necromancy, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22924270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryMirror/pseuds/MercuryMirror
Summary: Problems arise along with the dead when Kakashi is left in charge of Minato and Kushina's bakery and son.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Kudos: 25





	1. A Half-baked Idea

**Author's Note:**

> This should be about nine chapters altogether since it grew itself a plot, posting about once a week. Thanks as always to Rouge, and I hope you enjoy!

Kakashi was _mildly_ panicking okay? He had so much to do and all of it was so necessary! Why Minato and Kushina had decided he was the best one to take over their cute bakery and care for their six year old child at the same time was a good plan, he had no idea. Obito and Rin, the couple's other former apprentices, would be able to do a much better job.

When he brought this up at the trio's weekly 'get shitfaced and bitch about their problems' night (bringing it up to Kushina and Minato would be questioning their judgement and he might lose standing in their eyes; Minato would give him a disappointed face that he couldn't determine the reason behind their decision, and Kushina would probably get mad), the day before he was doomed to start, Rin laughed at him, long and loud, before deciding he really was that much of an idiot in circumstances like this, and explained.

"I actually have a job, where I'm in high demand," Kakashi realised that this was true, as an extremely talented medic Rin was always needed at the hospital, and he was sure if they could figure out some way to bind her to the building they would. Rin's continuation disrupted his thoughts, "and Obito burns everything he touches." 

Kakashi winces at this reminder of food he's accepted from Obito before. Charred is the polite way to describe it. The mage's more fire-inclined tendencies were easily observable if one had eyes, or a functioning nose. Leaving him in charge of a bakery and an impressionable six year old wasn't the best idea, especially if the Uchiha's younger cousin, Shisui, was to be taken as an example. The boy had grown into an extreme pyromaniac, who was very good at his chosen speciality of burning things and his secondary speciality of moving really fast. The government had put him on their payroll so that they would be able to redirect all the fees in property damage he had caused them at their enemies. Kiri mages pissed themselves if they saw him.

He feels like he should defend himself against the accusation he doesn't have a job though. He does have one, they just rarely need him, and also he doesn't really need it. The Hatake _are_ an ancient mage bloodline, and he is the sole heir of all that entails (tarnished reputation included; not that he gives a shit). But his job - assisting with the takedown of mages who have decided to turn to dark magic - is mostly relegated to powerful mages. There's not much point bringing a nuclear bomb to a knife fight - the authorities, ANBU, can deal with the regular scum easily. Maybe Rin does have a point, it's a little pathetic for him to just lounge around and read porn. He's a powerful mage! He can deal with a bakery and a six year old!

|

He was one of the most powerful mages of his generation, of any generation in recent memory. He created his own spells, no mean feat, had worked in ANBU for years, taken down hundreds of criminals, and was kept on retainer after he had retired - something only one other person had been offered in the long and shadowed history of ANBU. He would have been able to handle the bakery by itself, perhaps. But the six year old pushed it over the edge firmly into 'I cannot deal with this' territory. He was very glad for the walk-in refrigerator, which gave him a nice private place to have a mental breakdown.

Naruto was an unholy terror. Both of his parents were powerful mages, and it had been handed down. Naruto had ridiculous reserves, and so could do things the regular six year old couldn't, such as walk on the walls and roof (muddy footprints _everywhere,_ he had never had to mop a ceiling before), teleport short distances (this appeared to be limited to directly behind him, causing him to almost murder a child with an oven tray), levitate objects (especially in fits of strong emotions; he wasn't going to tell the clients that he had magicked the cake after it had been thrown into the ceiling, thus ruining the three hours he had spent doing elaborate icing decorations), and turn objects invisible for a short amount of time (he had fallen victim to more traps in the past week than he had in his entire life before this). He had to resort to using every trick he had learnt in ANBU, while restraining the reactions he would have had were he still in ANBU, or even a situation where he was in danger. When the only danger was to his pride and sometimes minor bodily harm, he couldn't react with killing intent.

|

In a last-ditch attempt to work out a game plan and regain his sanity (which was clearly gone), he asked Shisui to babysit Naruto. Shisui was all too happy to comply, and bounced through the bakery, collecting Naruto with a stream of unintelligible words. Naruto seemed to understand and grew exponentially brighter (somehow; he was already a cheerful child who didn't know what a shadow was). Kakashi spared a brief thought for his inevitable later suffering and nodded professionally at Itachi, Shisui's cousin and impulse control, as well as the one who had replaced Kakashi when he left ANBU. Itachi sent a small smile back at him, before wrangling Shisui and Naruto out of the store. It would only be later that Kakashi realised Itachi had somehow stolen a mildly alarming amount of sweets from the shop, claiming them as compensation.

Unfortunately, Kakashi did not realise that Itachi was not, as a matter of fact, Shisui's impulse control. Instead, he made quiet comments egging Shisui on, and smooth-talked people out of stopping them from doing anything. If smooth-talking didn't work, he intimidated them. Naruto, at the end of the day, would have two new role models, be hyped up on sugar, and have discovered an interest in playing with fire.

|

While Kakashi was able to do the mountain of paperwork that Kushina and Minato had left behind, he was able to reflect. What he needed was help, an extra set of hands around the place. Rin and Yamato were out, due to being busy with their jobs as a medic and ANBU captain respectively. Obito, Gai, and Shisui were out, as if left alone with Naruto the two high-energy personalities would feed off each other and probably destroy his sanity when the babysitter left him alone with a hyped-up Naruto, but leaving them at the bakery would be a bad idea as well as two of them were pyromaniacs and Gai would drive all clientele away with overenthusiasm. Itachi was out as well, due to the fact he had duties, and also because he was too young to dump something like this on for the long term. And... he had no other friends. He resolved to inspect his personal life later and think up a solution now.

Closing up the bakery so he could go and get himself food, he wandered through the streets, ruminating on solutions to his problem. Hiring someone probably wouldn't work, along with the fact he didn't really want someone he didn't know and couldn't trust working in close quarters with him. It was the sign on the outside of a dark store crammed down a narrow alley that gave him the idea. It claimed that the person inside would be able to "connect you with the dead and show you the spiritual world".

Sending out a testing flicker of magic, he determined that there was nothing magical happening in the store, not even the slightest trace of magical energy in the place. However, for someone such as himself, the plane of death could be manipulated. _Necromancy._ It was the solution to his problem!


	2. A Recipe for Resurrection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi has a half-baked plan of how to get a bakery assistant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two!  
> Thanks as always to Rouge, without whom this would look significantly worse!

Necromancy was an odd grey point in the law. While it was _legal_ , ethically it was a massive debate with an infinite amount of threads to tug on. Legally, those that were Raised weren't living, due to their lack of signs of being traditionally alive (breathing, beating heart, etc.), as well as the distinct possibility that, depending on the method used, they could simply be mindless shells of who they were. They were also considered an inanimate object if someone used them in some crime, so the criminal couldn't cry for the arrest of someone who had no choice in it.

There were people pushing for necromancy to be made illegal, citing that once one died, one should have the right to eternal peace and all that whatnot, depending on what one believed in. The other camp was of the opinion that since they're dead, they should be taking all the chances they can in whatever capacity the necromancer who completed the ritual was willing to provide.

In moral terms, it was entirely up to the individual. Kakashi himself distinctly preferred Raising all of the person whenever possible, taking the extra steps that were required to ensure that the personality of the deceased was brought back along with the physical form. Unfortunately, in his long career with ANBU, this had rarely been feasible, whether due to the extra time and resources that would have been needed being unavailable, the pressing information that was required ASAP, or one of any myriad of other reasons. ANBU were known for doing what needed to be done, and sometimes that was the quick and dirty method of Raising. Either way, he had little problem with necromancy.

|

Once he had made up his mind that he would use necromancy, following his spur of the moment idea to Raise someone who would be able to help him deal with the heavy workload he found himself under, it was simply a matter of obtaining the right ingredients and waiting for the right time. Necromancy drew power from the moon, so the initial ritual had to be completed at night. A decent chunk of the physical remains of the person you were trying to Raise, and artistic yet occultly significant chalk squiggles were the other two essentials. To Raise more of the person, more specialized items were needed - things that had been predetermined to appeal to the one being Raised, drawing the attention of their spirit.

Throughout the rest of the day at the bakery, Kakashi was distracted. He kept himself mostly out the front of the shop, waiting behind the counter for customers to come past. He spent the empty times (of which there were quite a few, but never long enough to do anything with any depth) making a list of desired characteristics in the person he would Raise. Between his focus on his list and the occasional customer, he was able to burn three batches of muffins. He was pretty sure that the regulars would just take the burnt muffins as another point against him.

They had quite the vendetta against him, a week and a half into his temporary ownership of the bakery. He'd shut down the coffee machine due to having little idea of how to use it, which had upset a fair few people. His response to their complaints was to point out that the business was a bakery, not a coffee house. They had not been pleased with this very logical point. He was considering turning the machine back on tomorrow and serving intentionally shitty coffee to see if they would leave him alone.

A woman who looked like she belonged to the PTA had gotten on his case about the porn he had been reading, screeching about how it was unprofessional and that she would sic an OHS inspector on him or something. His response to _this_ was to inform her that since: he had a completely different dustcover over the actual porn; had put it down when she had stood in front of him; it was impossible to actually see the pages except through a reflection, which would be backwards and upside down; _and_ he was on a page which was rather cute, with absolutely nothing NSFW about it, that perhaps she was the pervert for being able to recognize that it was porn having had a five-second (backwards and upside down) glance at the pages, on an innocent no-porn-in-sight page. She had turned a fascinating shade of puce and then flounced out of the shop, her shrill voice informing him that she would never come back again.

He decided that perhaps he was also not the best person to leave with little to do in public for long stretches of time, and added "Makes good coffee? Friendly?" to his list of desired-but-unnecessary traits. He'd take any advantage he could get.

|

After the bakery was finally closed, and Itachi had been shooed off with a frightening amount of the half-off leftover sweets, he meandered his way to a store which sold remains. _Hidden Sound_ valued quality in everything they sold, and the prices reflected that. Some were driven off by that, while others were driven off by Orochimaru and his horde of children, all of whom would insult you at the twitch of an eyelid. If they decided they liked you, an occurrence that appeared to be largely governed by a roulette wheel, they were surprisingly helpful. They certainly knew their stuff, and also happened to have the largest selection of grey-area magical items - things that weren't illegal but also weren't _quite_ legal - in the Greater Konoha Metropolitan Area. There were whispers on the wind that they would sell _anything_ for the right price, legal or not. Kakashi tended to ignore that rumor, as he had no need of anything he couldn't get through legal channels.

He had wanted to slip into the store unnoticed and stay that way for as long as possible, but opening the door made a bell ring with the deep notes of a church bell. He would be completely unsurprised if he discovered that Anko or Suigetsu had stolen it from a church. He knew the wards would have detected him anyway, even as he felt their hostility brush over him, but sometimes the help at _Hidden Sound_ was best avoided for as long as possible. Since Kimimaro was holding a long, sharp piece of bone, Karin looked like she was fully prepared to commit homicide and Suigetsu was holding Kabuto "hostage" with a particularly nasty looking sword, he tried to move quickly to the cover of the shelves.

His plans to not disturb the tense situation were ruined as Orochimaru, who had been casually leaning on the counter flipping through an accounts book, called out to him without looking up.

"Welcome," the man began, looking up. His odd golden eyes pierced through Kakashi, for all the world looking like he was trying to dissect him with them. "You haven't been here in a while, Hatake."

His name broke through the tense tableau of four young adults, and they all turned to face him. Karin immediately looked back to her book, dismissing him from her attention, while Kimimaro turned back to his flower arrangement (he was currently working on quite a lovely one featuring oleander). The two knew that they would learn why he was there in due time. Suigetsu bounced forward, pointed teeth bared in the sort of grin a shark gives your leg before biting it, but Kabuto moved faster. Whether it was from spite, the occasionally-psychic boy picking up what he was there for, or just the endless curiosity that drove him, Kabuto was the one who reached him first and was thus the one who would be helping him on this trip to the store.

Kakashi was unsure whether he should be thankful or not. While Kabuto wasn't prone to dramatics and wholesale murder like Anko and Suigetsu, he always seemed to know more than you did and held a mocking air about him. However, he was probably the best after Orochimaru when it came to knowledge of their stock, and he _did_ specialize in human anatomy. He carefully decided on tentatively thankful. He didn't particularly want to listen to Suigetsu try to either buy or sell him swords.

|

Kabuto immediately led him to the section holding the neat rows of urns, confirming that he had picked up _something_ from Kakashi. The informational sheets for each urn were booklets, displaying the care that had been put into discovering information about the deceased. Kabuto slowed to a halt in front of _Hyūga, Hizashi_ , before turning to him.

"So what _exactly_ are you looking for?" he asked, sharp eyes trying to pick the answers from him before he could respond. Wordlessly, Kakashi handed over the crumpled list with his near-illegible handwriting covering it. He wasn't entirely sure how to take his thoughts and put them into words. There was also the fact that all of Orochimaru's horde could smell weakness like blood in water, and would hone in on it immediately. Being ridiculed and mocked was one of the few things _not_ on today's shopping list.

Kabuto _hmm_ 'ed, before wordlessly casting a small location spell. The pair followed this to where it terminated in front of an urn labeled with _Senju, Hashirama_. Kabuto quickly flicked through the booklet, before handing it to Kakashi to peruse. There was nothing wrong with the man - aside from an affinity for nature magic, which wasn't the worst thing in the world but he had had enough of that from Yamato harassing him with plants when he wouldn't get out of bed - but there wasn't anything that called to Kakashi that he was making the right decision. Kabuto, seeing his hesitation, recast the tracking spell, which hovered uncertainly before trailing off in another direction. This time it comes to a pause before _Umino, Iruka_. Kakashi has a good feeling about this one. Kabuto lets out a more positive _hmmm_ noise as he flicks through the booklet, before passing it to Kakashi. He barely touches it before his fingertips are pleasantly warmed by his magic reacting to the magical essence of _Umino, Iruka._

One’s magical essence is their personal signature, as unique as their DNA. It is intrinsically tied to you, and no matter if you are capable of using magic or not, you will have it. It does not fade after death, and will linger on any physical remains, over time expanding to a small area, like territory being marked. Necromancy utilizes magical essence to catch on the deceased’s, ensnaring them before dragging the magical essence back into activity. This prompts the spirit to come back, and the body will reform out of the ‘sacrifice’, the spirit will be drawn into it, and voila! Necromantic ritual complete!

He read the booklet, despite his magic assuring him that this man is the correct choice. The information only proved it, Umino having been a teacher and a volunteer information desk worker. The long list of ingredients that would be required for a complete summoning put a slight damper on things, but Kakashi handed the booklet back to Kabuto, and asked him, "So how much am I going to be paying for this?". Kabuto smirked slightly and sent him to sit at the counter while he waited.

Karin, Kabuto, and Orochimaru floated around gathering the ingredients, while Suigetsu tried to coerce him into selling his ancestral sword and Kimimaro did arcane things with flowers with a single-minded determination. By the time the three had returned, Kakashi bore a flower crown made of the oleander that Kimimaro had been using earlier.

"It suits you," Orochimaru remarked dryly as he moved behind the counter, bearing an armload of spell ingredients and began to ring them up. "That will be $10,358.60". Kakashi paid, shoving the ingredients into the bottomless bag he habitually carried around and departed as soon as possible. He wanted to get the ritual over and done with so his sanity would be saved. 

|

When he got back to the bakery, he misappropriated the purple chalk used to write on the shop's sandwich board, went out to the unloading bay behind the shop, and began to draw. After two hours, all the lines are out, and they hum with power as the moonlight washes over them, charging them. He places the ingredients out, candles at the cardinal points and the ashes in the center, the more personalized ingredients - a small vial of sulphur, an origami crane, coffee beans and much more, all precisely placed in their spots.

Finally, it's done. The smooth lines of the drawn seal glow with the moonlight they're charged on, and are a sight to behold. All the ingredients are placed, and Kakashi intones the ritual's words, activating it. The lines grow brighter and brighter as the items placed on them slowly crumble to dust. At the height of the spell, Kakashi cut his finger with an obsidian knife, and allowed a single drop of blood to fall onto the summoning seal, leaving his signature imprinted on it. There was a blinding flash of violet light, and the quiet humming that had been permeating the air canceled out. Kakashi blinked away the afterimages from his eyes, and stepped into the ritual circle now that it's harmless, headed for the dark shape curled into a ball in the center of it, even as it let out a loud groan, like someone who has been woken from a restful sleep and now must get out of bed. He wants to see _Umino, Iruka_ as soon as possible, after all.


	3. Compliments to the Chef

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a chapter in these trying times, and stay safe.

It would be not untrue to say Kakashi had not seen a photograph of Umino Iruka. Bodies were easy to source - they kept them in a few, specific places, after all - but there was a distinct dearth of knowledge of the faces of the dead. To keep a photograph of the deceased in a public place was considered bad luck, as well as bait for those who harvested corpses to supply stores such as _Hidden Sound_. Therefore, it was somewhat of a shock when Kakashi reached the still figure he had Raised and looked upon Umino's face, only to discover that he was _gorgeous_. His face was slack with rest, the bridge of his nose bisected by a long, straight scar lighter than the surrounding skin. Long, dark hair spread out, framing his face like a pool of oil under the sickly light of the moon, caressing broad shoulders that spoke of a build bulkier than Kakashi's own slim musculature.

As Kakashi took in the former-corpse's features, a wrinkle appeared in Umino's brow. The man then sneezed three times in quick succession. After the third sneeze, his eyes flew open and registered Kakashi standing over him. In a matter of seconds, Umino had swept Kakashi's feet from beneath him, causing Kakashi to fall forward onto him, which was likely not what had been intended by either party. After registering what had happened, Kakashi took another moment to regain his breath, before rolling off Umino onto the dirty concrete of the loading bay. As soon as he was able to, the other man jerked up violently, looking around wildly like a prairie dog searching for a half-heard noise. Kakashi waved weakly from his spot next to him, unable to muster the energy to get up after the spell sapping so much of his strength.

"Hatake Kakashi," he introduced himself, figuring the man was probably very confused and also hoping that it would deter Umino from launching another attack. "Necromancer," he added on, realizing that might be relevant since the other man's final memories were probably something distinctly different to what was in front of him now. He felt that the three words he had been able to produce over the sudden exhaustion that had overtaken him would communicate the message he was aiming for. Umino had evidently had some training in fighting, and he would rather not test how skilled the man was.

"Umino Iruka," was the quick response from the newly-undead, speaking of ingrained manners. A corner of Kakashi's mind put a cheery checkmark in a box - it had been one of the 'if possible' requirements on his list, since Naruto possessed almost no manners. He was hoping continual exposure would fix that since he was going to hex the kid if he was asked why he wasn't living in a retirement home one more time.

|

"Why am I here?" Iruka questioned, somewhat belatedly. "I definitely died, is all." They'd been lying on the ground for almost ten minutes. By Kakashi's sluggish estimates, he would have two more minutes in his dozing state until he fell truly asleep, but Iruka's question jarred him out of it.

Kakashi's initial answer was mumbled into his arm. A few seconds after the illegible response, he tilted his head to the side so that he could speak clearly. "My teacher left me in charge of his bakery and six year old, neither things I've ever had any experience with. I need help, but all my friends are busy. I'm capable of necromancy, so it seemed like the best idea. You were the most suitable person I found."

Iruka was silent after his explanation, mulling it over. "So when am I going to meet the kid?" he asked, pushing himself into a vaguely upright position. Kakashi smiled, thrilled he was willing to help out Kakashi. Had he refused, he wasn't sure what he would have done.

"Hopefully he's asleep, since it's well past his bedtime, but I'll introduce you-" he looked up at the sky, trying to work out the time from the position of the moon, but it had been covered by dark clouds. "-tomorrow. You were a teacher, right?"

Iruka laughed softly. "Yes. For middle school. The children are so small, but they have so much angst and drama. I'm thankful I don't have to deal with teenage hormones on top of that. There was this one time...” Iruka told him the anecdote from his time teaching, a hilarious piece involving the class hamster, bath salts and the principal. When that piece was finished, he launched immediately into another one, continuing on in that manner. Kakashi idly noticed that there were familiar references, indicating that perhaps Iruka didn't die that long ago. Iruka's stories continued until the heavens opened up and rain poured out, drenching the pair almost immediately.

They made shocked eye contact for a second, before, energized by the cold rain, they jumped simultaneously to their feet and ran towards the door that led into the bakery, Kakashi taking the slightest lead to show Iruka where to go, both of them laughing at the situation they had found themselves in. They piled inside, breeching the quiet darkness of the kitchen, tripping each other up in a mimicry of their earlier meeting. Kakashi cast a small warming spell to dry out their clothes, but was unable to do much about their skin or hair. Iruka looked at him as he commanded the magic like it was the best thing he'd ever seen, and Kakashi fell a little in love with him then and there, how the look conveyed an innocent wonder that he was out of this world, like he had hung the stars.

After that, he showed off a little, casting harmless yet pretty spells that bewitched Iruka. He thought that if he could freeze time that this would be the moment he picked, out of all the other moments that his life had consisted of, an unreasonable proportion of them painful. This tense silence of potential was nothing that he had felt before, and the seeds of a crush were sown into the earth of his soul, even on that very first night.

|

It was the following day when Kakashi was able to appreciate the many talents of Iruka. Neither of the two had gotten enough rest, the ritual having been cast at night, with the time they spent together afterward eating away the darkest hours. Kakashi himself had gotten no sleep at all, despite the bone-deep exhaustion of staying awake for so long. While he hadn't registered the drain of the ritual and the other small spells he had cast in the giddy state he had entered, that too leeched at his energy. As if he needed any more reasons for poor rest, he had shared a bed with Iruka, someone who, despite the conversations they had had, was still a stranger, _and_ he had to wake up at four AM. In his opinion, four in the morning was a time for people to stagger home from a night out, not to get up at. But the bread would not wait, nor would his pushy customers when the doors opened at seven. He cast a small spell to give him energy from his somewhat restored reserves, and grimly began his day.

Iruka, in deference to the late hours they had gone to bed at, woke up later, at a more reasonable time, and got into the shitty instant coffee upstairs. Kakashi knew this due to the face Iruka pulled whenever he took a sip out of the cup when he wandered down into the bakery's kitchen close to opening time. The sleepy smile that Iruka gave him made his heart skip a beat, so he shot back a somewhat insincere eye smile, before indicating the fancy coffee machine out the front of the shop and informing Iruka that if he knew how to use it, he was free to do so, not expecting much from it.

It was a surprise when, five minutes later, Iruka roamed back into Kakashi's workspace, casually placing down a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. When he tried it, it was fantastic, and he knew that, as far as the bakery itself was concerned, he had made the right choice. When the customers arrived at opening time, they vocally agreed when they were able to get their hands on a cup of high-quality coffee. What Naruto's reaction would be, however, was still pending, as the bright blond mop hadn't shown itself.

|

Naruto descended closer to noon than was reasonable, still yawning. Since Kakashi hadn't been around to scold him into bed, it seemed he had taken full advantage. When he came out to the shop front in his ratty pyjamas, Iruka immediately told him off, asking him about the reputation of the shop and its owners. Naruto looked distinctly more awake by the end of it, but also more confused. Kakashi quickly realized the problem, and spoke up.

"Naruto, this is Iruka. He'll hopefully be able to teach you manners. Iruka, this is Naruto, the one I told you about."

Naruto scratched his head. "But Kakashi, he looks so uptight!"

Kakashi closed his eyes and prayed for patience. Iruka, rightfully, took this as a point he was going to have to work on, and herded Naruto out of the storefront before the customers got more of a look at the current dynamic of the store. Twenty minutes later, Naruto was well dressed and his hair had had a comb liberally applied, something he could not be relied on to do himself. Kakashi was, to say the least, impressed. His own success rate with Naruto's battle against personal hygiene wasn't great, and he was rarely able to get the full checklist completed, often giving up when it came to Naruto and brushing his hair.

Naruto glanced at the thematically rustic clock, and loudly announced, "Sasuke invited me over at one, should we leave?” Kakashi, who had forgotten about the arranged playdate between Naruto and Itachi's little brother, swore, looked at the clock which was displaying the time of twelve fifty-six, and swore again. Iruka was given a crash course in how to run the bakery temporarily, and Kakashi swept up Naruto in his arms before teleporting the two of them to outside the Uchiha's house, ushering Naruto up the steps as he staggered from the disorientation and the depletion of his reserves.

When they set foot on the front porch, the imposing door swung open, with Uchiha Mikoto raising a judgemental brow at Kakashi. He smiled weakly at her parental disapproval, before hastily stopping Naruto from charging past the Uchiha matriarch. The woman was a powerful witch, as well as best friends with Naruto's mother, Kushina, and would willingly make his life hell were she to believe that he wasn't moving heaven and earth to comply with Kushina's wishes. The stern look was disrupted when a cry of joy sounded from the hallway behind her, and the small form of Naruto's best friend, Sasuke Uchiha, dashed past his mother to grab Naruto and drag him into the depths of the house. Mikoto looked over her shoulder as the children disappeared inside the house, a soft smile on her face, before looking back at Kakashi with hard eyes.

"Acceptable," were her only words to him. "You may pick him up when the bakery closes," before she shut the door in his face. Kakashi went back to the bakery, and Iruka, who was managing quite well despite the rushed and poor instructions Kakashi had given him.

|

Time passed, as it is wont to do, and Kakashi could only watch as he and Iruka meshed together perfectly. They found themselves easily moving around each other, navigating the other's movements with ease. As Kakashi watched Iruka patiently help Naruto with his homework from school, he studiously (in deference to the atmosphere) ignored the warmth in his chest, which had only expanded since that night, weeks ago now. He'd never wanted a family, yet the scene in front of him was startlingly domestic. However, his heart could not be claimed entirely by Iruka's everything, as a dark slice of his heart and mind remained keenly aware of how little he knew about Iruka.


End file.
